* Stanford becomes the first school in the 76 year history of the award to produce the runner up three years in a row.

(Source of immense pride for the Cardinal, or cause for teeth gnashing? Both, probably.)

Luck is not the first player to finish second in back-to-back seasons, however. In fact, it happened as recently as four years ago: Arkansas’ Darren McFadden was the runner up in 2006-07 (to Troy Smith and then Tim Tebow).

* There’s a reason no runner up has won the Heisman the following year since Herschel Walker in 1982:

When you enter the season as the frontrunner, it’s exceeding difficult to live up the the expectations.

That’s especially true when you’re also considered a lock for the No. 1 pick in the draft. Even something silly like the “Suck for Luck” campaign serves to inflate expectations to an almost unreachable level.

Luck had a terrific season (11-1, 167.5 efficiency, 35 TDs, 70% completion). But everyone expected him to be terrific, so he had little room to capture the imagination of voters and little opportunity to generate momentum.

*** Here’s the early version of a column for Wednesday’s Merc on the David Shaw-led Heisman push, which seemed a bit misguided. The first words out of Shaw’s mouth on his national media teleconference should have been something to the effect of, “Andrew Luck is everything the Heisman is supposed to stand for …” (Details below.)

Despite lacking momentum, Luck has a very good chance to win the award because he’ll appear on so many of the 900-something ballots — far more, for instance, than USC’s Matt Barkley or Wisconsin’s Montee Ball.

But going back to 2009, when the school did so little to promote Toby Gerhart for two-thirds of the season — only to have him lose the closest Heisman race in history — it seems like Stanford is on shaky ground when it comes to managing the Heisman hype machine … and maximizing what its star players have to offer.

First off: Thanks to all Hotline readers for participating for another year. The Hotline wouldn’t exist without you. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

This fall has been a bit different for me. For the first time in many years, I was assigned to cover Stanford on a full-time basis, instead of floating between the three Bay Area teams.

Because the Hotline topics flow from my Merc assignments — I can’t be two places at once — that means the posts have been fairly Stanford-centric this fall.

I’d like to thank Cal and San Jose State fans for sticking with me. I’ve posted as much as possible on the Spartans and Bears, including the weekly grades and pre-game links. But admittedly, issues and stories from both campuses have not been addressed in this space.

Stanford took a significant step towards an appearances in the Rose Bowl sitting in its Palo Alto hotel Friday night, while Andrew Luck all but clinched the Heisman Trophy.

Both developments came as the result of the stunner from Ames, where unranked Iowa State toppled No. 2 Oklahoma State.

First, the bowl picture:

*** OSU’s loss clears the way for a one-loss team (likely Alabama or Oregon, but don’t completely discount Oklahoma and Arkansas) to face Louisiana State in the national championship game.

And if Oregon gets in — have to think Bama’s the slight favorite at this point — then a spot would open in the Rose Bowl for Stanford if the Cardinal beats Cal on Saturday … and maybe even if it doesn’t.

An abbreviated version of this column was published on the Merc’s website earlier today. But before we get to the nitty gritty:

* I didn’t mention the latest espn.com Heisman poll in the column, because some of the participants aren’t actual Heisman voters. But Luck leads in that — in addition to the HeismanPundit.com straw poll that is addressed below.

* The SEC has produced the past two winners and three of the last four (Tebow, Ingram and Newton).

* Don’t overlook this issue if the voting is close: Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden and Houston’s Case Keenum are from the same region. (They could split the Southwest vote.)

* To the column …

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck didn’t lose the Heisman Trophy with his substandard performance in the loss to Oregon, but he lost a stranglehold on the award.

For the first time this season, the Heisman race is just that: a race.

Luck held a commanding lead until he committed three turnovers last week in a 53-30 loss in the biggest game of Stanford’s season – and, as such, the most important of Luck’s candidacy.

The grades have been combined (and abbreviated) again this week because I’m headed to a late-morning Big Game press conference in the City, then writing a column for the Merc assessing postseason options for Cal and Stanford.

This is just the second time in the past 20 years that both teams will take the field for Big Game having already locked up bowl bids.

If you’re curious about such things: The Cardinal is a 20.5-point favorite, the biggest spread since Cal was a 29-point heavy in 2006.

And please note: Kickoff at Stanford Stadium will be 7:15 p.m. for the ESPN broadcast. (Had the Cardinal beaten Oregon, Big Game would have started at 5 p.m. for ABC.)

To the grades …

*** Cal

Result: Beat Oregon State 23-6

Grade: B-

Comment: The Bears won the games they needed to win, thumping Washington State and Oregon State by a combined score of 53-13 to become bowl eligible.